The Supreme Court’s decision that there is no longer a constitutionally protected right to an abortion was never going to end the legal fighting over the practice. If anything, that decision will deepen the legal fault lines over who has legal access to abortions in our country.
Some conservative activists are now trying to make it more difficult to obtain medication abortions (which account for more than half of all abortions in this country) in every state across the country.
If these activists are successful, it will have dire consequences not just for women’s ability to obtain safe and effective abortions, but also for everyone who relies on the Federal Drug Administration’s approval process.
There’s no factual or legal merit to the suit, but that doesn’t mean it will be unsuccessful.
Currently medication abortions involve two pills — mifepristone and misoprostol. The FDA approved the use of mifepristone for medication abortions over two decades ago, in 2000. It has been used thousands of times since. In some other countries, only misoprostol is used for medication abortions, but using both medications increases their safety and efficacy.
But none of that is stopping some anti-abortion activists from filing a lawsuit in a federal court in Texas to undo the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. They claim that in approving mifepristone, the FDA abdicated its responsibility to protect women and girls. There’s no factual or legal merit to the suit, but that doesn’t mean it will be unsuccessful.
The suit should fail because, among other things, those challenging the approval of mifepristone cannot demonstrate that they have standing to sue, which requires that plaintiffs are injured, that the action they are complaining of caused that injury, and that a favorable court ruling would help to remedy that ruling. The anti-abortion medical providers and associations bringing the case claim that a future patient might seek their help after having…
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